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Lately, I've been listening to a new podcast. Well, it's new to me. It's called WNYC's Radio Lab. And it's actually been around since 2005. I just hadn't heard of it until last week. You can visit their website by going here.
I first heard of the show when Ira Glass excerpted one of their segments in last week's "This American Life". I was intrigued by the shows aggressive, but appropriate soundscapes. Things that they described in the show, play out in the background of the audio. You can actually hear what they're talking about, happening in the background. It's hard to describe, without your hearing it.
Which is why you should probably go to Itunes and subscribe to the podcast for yourself.
The general idea of each Radio Lab podcast is that the two hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, take some broad scientific topic like "Placebos", "Sleep" or "The Zoo" and weave stories around and about the topic. They interview experts, who zero in on some aspect of the topic and explore them for a bit, before smoothly moving on to some other aspect of the topic. In the background, the whole time, the music and sound perfectly compliment what they're talking about. They make use of volume, quiet, pauses, voices, dialects, repetition, and fades, to enhance the subject matter and in some cases, even take the focus of the broadcast.
It's fascinating. And almost dream-like. Which is very, very interesting, when they're tackling topics like "Who Am I? Where does my soul come from?" and that sort of thing. Heady stuff!
In the third show of the current season, the topic is "Sleep". They discuss how an activity that nearly every single organic creature does is still a bit of a mystery. Why we do it. What our brains do, when we do it. And how it affects us. All topics that they discuss.
They discuss how dolphins sleep (resting one half of their brains at a time, hovering at the top of the pool, so that they can still breathe). They discuss how ducks do it (huddled up in a line. The ones at the center, sleep with both eyes closed and the ones at the end, sleep with one eye, literally, open to watch for possible predators. Then, they switch sides, to rest the other eye). As it turns out, human beings are one of the very few species on the planet (if not THE only species) which is so safe in it's environment, that it sleeps so, so deeply, without an internal alarm system to watch for possible predators. A skill that we've lost, as we've mastered our the world around us.
That is, except for the people who experience Night Terrors. The wikipedia defines Night Terrors as...
...a parasomnia sleep disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming.
Yeah, crazy stuff. People who suffer Night Terrors are mobile and very active. All too often, they dream that they're being attacked and in some cases, lash out at their attackers, even injuring loved ones sleeping next to them.
Radio Lab theorizes that in these cases, the sleepers are experiencing a connection to their deeper, less evolved monkey-self. That they're reliving the feelings of an animal that is possibly under attack from unknown predators and that these are the the triggers that make them lash out so violently.
I found all of that very interesting.
I, myself, frequently have Night Terrors.
I wake up, thinking that there is someone (or somethings) in my bedroom, observing or affecting me. Usually, I can turn on the light and in short time, be reassured that everything is 100% okay. To my knowledge, I've never physically lashed out in my sleep. When I was a kid, I DID have dreams that I was fighting things (usually zombies or demons), but I don't have those dreams anymore. Now my Night Terrors are just strange visitors, observing me and getting ready to take an action that I thwart every time, by waking up.
Equally interesting as this discussion, is video of people actually having Night Terrors under medical lab testing conditions.
Which I am about to show you now.
Look, these people are having full blown freak-outs. They're dreaming of something coming after them or attacking them and they're fighting back. There's something inherently funny about watching people lash out at things that aren't there. All my years of watching "America's Funniest Home Videos" has taught me that people being scared is funny.
Especially when you know that they're not in any real danger. So, I give you permission to watch these clips and enjoy the spectacle of someone experiencing night terrors. I did.
Oh, and sign up to download Radio Lab to your ipod. You'll be glad you did. It's really incredible.
Check it out, won't you?
Cheers,
Mr.B
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